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The Flood
The Flood is a Doctor Who comic strip. It has been printed through various publications. Synopsis The TARDIS lands in Camden Market in the early 21st Century. While the Doctor is observed by an undercover agent, Destrii makes an enemy by making racist remarks to Tony, a Chinese noodle seller. His wife Linda tries to calm him, but he attacks Destrii and she knocks him out. Agents Carter and Morris, meanwhile, are dispatched to find the TARDIS. They do, but are observed by advanced, invisible Cybermen. The Doctor, with Destrii, invites Tony and Linda to a pub where they witness the barmaid having an acute emotional attack. Agent North tries to bug the Doctor, but Destrii apprehends him and the Doctor interrogates him, discovering that he’s an MI5 agent working for Leighton Woodrow (see The Fallen). However, Destrii’s alien eyes sees two large, silver figures in the room that nobody else can see. She fires at them, making the Cybermen visible. They have come for the Doctor, but he, Destrii, Tony, Linda and North escape. However, outside, they are cornered by more Cybermen. The Doctor uses the sonic screwdriver on a wide wave-stream to scramble the Cybermen’s identification codes, allowing his group to escape in North’s van. They contact agents Carter and Morris at the TARDIS, but the Doctor correctly deduces that they are now under Cyberman control and decides instead to head to MI5 HQ. However, they are pursued by Cybermen who shoot the van, knocking out the Doctor, Tony and Linda. North gets the Doctor aboard the rendezvous helicopter, but it leaves before Destrii can get Tony and Linda aboard. She fights the Cybermen and loses. They prepare for Cyberconversion. The Cybermen realise Destrii is non-human so sedate her for further analysis. The Doctor, meanwhile, harangues Woodrow for abandoning his friends. Meeting Doctor Emily Rice, MI5’s chief scientific aide, the Doctor deduces that these Cybermen are a more advanced model from the future and also that they will try to capture or eliminate him. Retuning MI5’s external sensors, he sees them approaching. They attack, wiping out all initial resistance as the Doctor’s party flees. Almost simultaneously, every vehicle in London stops working and the Cyber-control ship descends over the city... As the Cybermen launch a full-scale invasion of London, the Doctor and Emily Rice work on a device to boost the sonic screwdriver’s scrambling signal, but when he tries to use it, he realises they have found a way to deflect the signal. Destrii sees the inhabitants of Camden, including Tony and Linda, rounded up for conversion before she is taken with the Cyberleader to the MI5 building. Here the Cyberleader demonstrates the neuro-stream, a device that breaks down people’s emotional control. But the Cybermen can free humanity from the tyranny of fear, and hatred and joy. Driven almost insane by the neuro-stream, the humans gladly accept the Cybermen’s gift of conversion. The Doctor and Destrii are taken aboard the Cyber-control ship along with the TARDIS. The Doctor fleetingly detects another presence aboard, but cannot identify it. He is then presented before the Cybercontroller. The Doctor guesses that the Cybermen will launch the neuro-stream as a bio-chemical agent through rain across the world, reducing man to cowering creatures who will welcome conversion. The Cybercontroller will save humanity. They see Linda, Tony, Woodrow, Emily and North being converted and the Doctor offers a deal. If they stop this, he will offer the Cybermen his own death. Cyberconversion has always failed on non-human life forms because of tissue rejection, but he can offer them his own cellular resequencing template allowing them to convert any species in the universe. All they have to do is monitor him while he regenerates. He suggests radiation as a means of triggering a regeneration, but the control ship is powered by something much more powerful - a fragment of the space/time vortex, the presence the Doctor earlier detected. Exposure to the time winds will force the Doctor to regenerate. Wiring the Doctor into the system, the Cybermen tell him that Destrii will be the first test subject and that the invasion of Earth will continue. Destrii springs into action while the Doctor frees himself and tries to blow up the cyber-control ship, but the Cybercontroller stops him. However, rather than surrender his secret, the Doctor throws himself into the heart of the space/time vortex. Destrii is subdued and the order is given to eliminate her, when the Doctor, empowered by the time vortex energy, emerges from the ship’s power source. He channels the vortex to destroy the Cybermen, freeing the Earth, but the vortex threatens to consume him. However, when the ship begins to break up around Destrii, he forces his way back to save her. They escape in the TARDIS just before the ship explodes. The TARDIS lands somewhere on Earth and the Doctor and Destrii head out to explore. Notes *The Doctor Who Comics website, Altered Vistas, had this to say about the strip: I’m guessing that this comic strip is Russell T. Davies’ favourite one ever, given how many elements he’s paid homage to in the television series. Firstly we have Emily Rice, a scientific advisor who is the Doctor’s biggest fan, just like Malcolm in Planet of the Dead. Then we have the idea that exposure to the space/time vortex will cause the Doctor to regenerate, as in The Parting of the Ways. Then we have possession by the vortex and channelling its powers to destroy an invading force ala the same episode. Then we have the vague idea of the Doctor tapping into the collective consciousness of the world (albeit in reverse) and him glowing and floating which is echoed in The Last of the Time Lords. Destrii’s development throughout this strip is fantastic to see, and the Cybermen’s plan probably the most persuasive ever seen in any medium. This is an explosive and visually stunning conclusion to the Eight Doctor’s era, and the final pages are really sweet too. *Altered Vistas says this about the Cybermen's appearance in the strip: This was the final Eighth Doctor comic strip and shows a highly advanced species of Cybermen who have travelled from the future. It is also one of the very best Eighth Doctor comic strips, which some gorgeous artwork that is only enhanced by superior colouring. *This is the final Eighth Doctor comic strip Prints *Doctor Who Magazine **Issue 346 **Issue 347 **Issue 348 **Issue 349 **Issue 350 **Issue 351 **Issue 352 **Issue 353 *Panini Graphic Novels **The Flood Other Images The Flood 02.jpg|A radical new design for the Cybermen The Flood 03.jpg|The Doctor does something clever with the Sonic Screwdriver The Flood 04.jpg|You can't kill a Cyberman Flood, The Flood, The Flood, The